Friday, February 09, 2007

In a predictable eruption two days ago (predictable because he hadn't been on TV for a while, and you know he was looking for his moment), William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (for white, Catholic men), went after two feminist bloggers, Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister and Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon, calling them "vulgar, trash-talking bigots." (Edwards has rapped their knuckles but decided to keep them on as his net-roots folks, as reported here by Chris Cilizza of washingtonpost.com.) Your cybertrix suspects the comments of Mr. Donohue, that great defender of the faith, to be a bit of what the shrinks call "projection" -- that is, projecting one's own bad behavior onto others one perceives as threats (in this case, smart, liberal feminists).

Many, including your blogstress, have used this 2004 appearance by Donohue (or "BDo**", as he's known on Pandagon), on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" as evidence of Donohue's anti-Semitism. The topic is Mel Gibson's gore-fest, "The Passion of the Christ," which Donohue says is rejected by the "secular Jews" who run Hollywood because they "hate Christianity." Gibson's movie laid responsibility for the death of Jesus of Nazareth at the feet of the high priests of Jerusalem -- not Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who ordered the torture and execution.

In our critique of these remarks, few of us, however, have shone a light on the remarks Donohue made just after that. Here's a bit more of that passage:

WILLIAM DONOHUE, PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC LEAGUE: I spoke to Mel a couple of weeks ago about this. And I don‘t think it really matters a whole lot to him. It certainly doesn‘t matter to me. We‘ve already won.

Who really cares what Hollywood thinks? All these hacks come out there. Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It‘s not a secret, OK? And I‘m not afraid to say it. That‘s why they hate this movie. It‘s about Jesus Christ, and it‘s about truth. It‘s about the messiah. Hollywood likes anal sex.

[Emphasis added by blogstress.]

Then things get really interesting when Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a conservative who has apparently been invited on the show to bash Michael Moore's "Farenheit 9/11" -- a film for which Donohue also expresses his disdain -- jumps on Donohue for his Jew-baiting.

[RABBI SHMULEY] BOTEACH: I‘m amazed that we‘ve made this a discussion about secular Jews. I have got to tell you that Bill Donahue, who I otherwise love and so respect, ought to be ashamed of himself, the way he‘s spoken about secular Jews hating Christians. That is a bunch of crap, OK?

DONOHUE: Who‘s making the movies? Who‘s making the movies?

BOTEACH: That is a bunch of crap.

(CROSSTALK)

BOTEACH: Stop the anti-Semitic garbage, OK?

(CROSSTALK)

DONOHUE: Who‘s making the movies? The Irishmen?

(CROSSTALK)

BOTEACH: Michael Moore is certainly not a Jew. Let me speak here,

OK?

[MSNBC GUEST HOST PATRICK J.] BUCHANAN: Go ahead, Rabbi.

BOTEACH: The fact is that Jewish people are incredibly charitable, good, decent family people.

DONOHUE: I didn‘t question that.

BOTEACH: Hollywood has become a cesspit because it‘s secular, period.

Don‘t this us—don‘t tell us that it‘s secular Jews.

DONOHUE: So the Catholics are running Hollywood, huh?

(CROSSTALK)

BOTEACH: Soon, you‘re going to start telling us that the NBA is violent because it‘s black people, all right, Bill? No, no, no.

(CROSSTALK)

BOTEACH: When people behave badly, just hold them individually accountable.

Now, let me just say one thing.

(CROSSTALK)

BOTEACH: Pat, the reason why many Jews—I‘m not among them—are fearful of Christianity is, they‘re tired of Christians saying that we‘re a bunch of Christ killers. They‘re tired of the lie that we killed Jesus.

DONOHUE: How far back do you got to go back in history to get this?

(CROSSTALK)

BOTEACH: Pontius Pilate—I‘m almost done. I‘m almost done.

BUCHANAN: All right. OK.

BOTEACH: Pontius Pilate killed Jesus. And the sin of Mel Gibson is the same sin of Michael Moore. They both whitewash tyrants. Michael Moore whitewashes Saddam Hussein, and Mel Gibson whitewashes Pontius Pilate, who was the Saddam Hussein of the ancient world. That‘s why Jews are afraid of Christians.

About Me

Adele M. Stan is a journalist and editor whose work has appeared in The New Republic, the Village Voice, The Nation, The Advocate, Salon.com, the Washington Blade and Mother Jones magazine, as well as on the op-ed pages of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Daily News. She began her media career at Ms. magazine, where she served both on staff and as a contributing editor.
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